Opera honors a central figure in its success

By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Originally published 03:00 p.m., June 13, 2008
Updated 05:43 p.m., June 13, 2008

Moriarty's love of music led him to a six-decade career in opera.

John Moriarty's love affair with the singing voice began innocently.

"I got a job when I was a (piano) student at the New England Conservatory, accompanying singers for a dollar an hour," the respected conductor/opera administrator/pianist/vocal coach/author recalled.

"Frankly, I hated opera back then - I thought it was funny."

But something clicked, because when he was alone at the piano "I found that I missed those singers." Soon, they would become the focus of his life's work.

Now a spry and active 78, Moriarty can look back on an international career in opera that has covered six decades. It's his 30 years with Central City Opera (most of them as general director) that occupy his mind these days, as he prepares to be showered with praise at a dinner and concert honoring him Tuesday in the Central City Opera House, featuring music by renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and members of the company's Artists Training Program.

Actually, we should call it Moriarty's program, since he founded it soon after his arrival at Central City in 1978. Over the years, countless young singers have come away from their summers in Central City and built international careers - including Graves.

Though he stepped down as general director in 1998, Moriarty continues with the training program.

"I'm just keeping on with it," he said, proudly pointing to its national reputation. "We auditioned 450 singers for 31 places. Except for the Merola Program in San Francisco, I don't think there's another one in the country that young singers would prefer."

A nationally recognized vocal teacher and expert in operatic enunciation (he wrote the definitive book on the subject), the Artists Training Program holds a special place in Moriarty's heart, but he's most proud of his role in rescuing Central City Opera from financial ruin.

He'd arrived in '78 at the behest of artistic director Robert Darling, who invited Moriarty to establish a young-artist program. Then came the crisis of '82, when the company, weighed down in debt, went dark.

"That was the low point," he said. "After (longtime board president) Frank Ricketson died in 1964, Central City entered a long period of floundering. Then, when Nat Merrill left (as artistic director) in 1972, the deficits began. By 1982, I'd bought a house in Central, so when the season collapsed that summer, I was there anyway - on vacation."

Some vacation. Board chairman, the late Atwill Gilman, asked Moriarty to take the reins and oversee retiring the debt. "It took three years to get it going," Moriarty said, adding that the sale of company-owned properties in the region was a big help.

The Moriarty Era marked several key events in that former mining town: the arrival of gambling in 1991 ("I hated the idea of it, but the revenues got us a rehearsal center"), the short-lived conversion of the Teller House into a casino, and a major fix-up of the crumbling Opera House in 1999 that included replacement of the venerable hickory chairs with plush theater seats.

In 1996, the guard began to change at the Opera. Pat Pearce arrived as managing director, succeeding Moriarty as general director two years later. Still, the white- haired maestro continued to run the artist training program and to conduct productions. In 2006, after leading the 50th-anniversary staging of The Ballad of Baby Doe, the baton officially was retired.

A busy life in opera continues - one that still amazes Moriarty.

"At the start I was intent on pursuing piano. I wanted to be the American Gerald Moore (referring to the fabled piano accompanist). Then, I fell into directing and administrative work. In 1965, I asked myself why I was wasting time with paperwork. So I pursued conducting. Then, I started coaching.

"I always loved teaching, seeing young people develop into talented singers. I had good teachers and I wanted to continue that. As for Central City, I fell in love with the place when I came here to see productions in the '60s. You know, I always felt very healthy here."

Shulgoldm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5296

2009 season

* Next summer Central City Opera will feature Handel's tale of the Crusades, Rinaldo; Donizetti's beloved tragedy, Lucia di Lammermoor; and Stephen Sondheim's Tony-winning A Little Night Music. Subscriptions go on sale in the fall. centralcityopera.org

Central City Opera Pops

* When and where: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Central City Opera House; dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the Teller House.

* Cost: $65 to $350

* Information: 303-292-6700

* Of note: Central City Opera presents a tribute to John Moriarty.